A simple gesture turned into a beautiful moment at the 408K Race the Row on Sunday in San Jose, California.

Joe Bell, a 95-year-old World War II veteran, dressed in his military uniform and stood on his front lawn, waving to runners in the 8K race. Some clapped and said thank you, then a stream of people ran over to Bell and slowed to shake his hand, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News. The video was posted here on Tout.com, as well as the San Jose Mercury News website. San Jose Mercury News reporter Julia Prodis Sulek wrote about the experience of capturing the video in a report Tuesday.

“I awoke to the sound of runners out my bedroom window,” Prodis Sulek, who captured video of the moment, wrote in an email to Runner’s World Newswire. “I wondered why some people were running on the sidewalk. I looked down the block and saw Joe, in his uniform, and the runners paying tribute.

“I feared I missed it. I started shooting when I realized people were clapping for him as they ran by. Then the parade of tributes began. I got all choked up. So happy to capture that beautiful moment. And guess what? It continued to happen throughout the race. They kept coming in waves.”

The 8K race is a charity partner with the Pat Tillman Foundation. Tillman played for four seasons in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals before putting his career on hold after the September 11, 2001 terriorist attacks to join the Army. Tillman was killed in action in April 22, 2004. According to the Pat Tillman Foundation website, the foundation “invest[s] in military veterans and their spouses through educational scholarships – building a diverse community of leaders committed to service to others.”